An aggregation node, e.g., a broadband remote access server (BRAS), routes traffic to and from a subscriber on an Internet service provider's (ISP's) network. The aggregation node sits at the core of an ISP's network, aggregates user sessions from the access network, and routes traffic into the ISP's backbone network. An ISP may also inject policy management and Quality of Service (QoS) in the network through the aggregation nodes.
A network may include a plurality of aggregation nodes. A subscriber may connect to the network and the plurality of aggregation nodes through a digital subscriber line access multiplexer (DSLAM). In a broadband aggregation network, a subscriber usually connects to a single aggregation node that may, in turn, connect to other such subscribers. Each of the subscribers connected to the single aggregation node may require different bandwidth or load. The aggregation node, therefore, must be adequately sized to support the highest subscriber bandwidth or load requirement resulting in misuse of aggregation node resources. And the single aggregation node catering to a plurality of subscribers may not scale well and provide a single failure point. No mechanism currently exists to balance subscriber loads across a single or multiple aggregation nodes in a fair and balanced manner. The standard mechanisms used for aggregation, e.g., point-to-point protocol (PPP) and dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP), rely on a first-response from the aggregation node and have no inherent load balancing capabilities.